1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color selecting method, an image processing method, an image processing apparatus, and a computer-readable recording medium storing a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
With significant advances in inkjet technology in recent years, it has become possible for inkjet printers to produce large color prints of high quality at high speeds. Inkjet printers are not only popular for private or home use, but nowadays also are widely used in commercial applications. Inkjet printers make it possible to print on POP (point of purchase) posters, wall posters, large-size mediums such as outdoor advertisements and billboards, roll mediums, and thick hard mediums.
There are a wide variety of print mediums (hereinafter also referred to as “mediums”) available for use in prints to meet various commercial demands. For example, such print mediums include paper mediums, such as synthetic paper, thick paper, aluminum-evaporated paper, etc., resin mediums such as those made of vinyl chloride, PET, etc., and tarpaulin paper made of woven fiber cloth with synthetic resin films applied to both surfaces thereof.
Since advertisement prints are expected to be effective to arouse consumers' motivation to buy advertised products through visual sensations of the consumer, the color finish of such prints is of particular importance. Heretofore, there have been disclosed various color matching technologies, such as a method of generating an ICC (International Color Consortium) profile, a method of adjusting a designated color, etc., as a print color managing means. Such color matching technologies are applicable not only to inkjet printers but also to all types of digital printers, including those based on electrophotographic and thermosensitive principles, together with their peripheral devices across the board.
The method of adjusting a designated color referred to above comprises a method of making fine color adjustments of an area of interest in an image in order to bring the color into substantial conformity with a given color (designated color) designated by a color sample of color chips, while maintaining the color balance of the image as a whole. There have been disclosed various methods of adjusting a designated color.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-217007 discloses a method of bringing the impression of a designated color displayed on a display device and the impression of a color printed by a printing machine into conformity with each other. Specifically, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-217007 discloses a display window displayed on the display device, in which the displayed color is changeable, and a printed color chart of 27 colors, which are thought to be close to a designated color that is displayed (see FIGS. 4 and 5 of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-217007).
The operator sets a designated color that is to be displayed in the display window, presses a print button to print the color chart on the printing machine, selects one of the 27 colors of the color chart, which is closest to the designated color, and enters the number of the closest color into the display device, for thereby strictly approximating the impression of the designated color displayed in the display window by the impression of the color printed on the printing machine.
There has been operators' desire to print a color chart having a larger number of color patches in the adjustment process for a designated color. For example, in order to enhance reproducibility of a designated color, there is demand for printing a plurality of color patches having different colors on one print medium and observing the colors for comparison. Also, when a designated color falls out of a given gamut, the designated color needs to be converted into a color within the gamut. As such, there is desire to print color patches having different colors on one print medium, confirm by the actually printed color patches that the designated color can not be reproduced exactly, and select a certain color in such a manner that the operator is satisfied.
However, in a method and apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-217007, the number of color patches is fixed to 27, although the colors of the color patches can be changed. That is, the printed color charts have the common appearance, and the number and positions of color patches are the same at any time.
If the type of color chart appearance (hereinafter referred to as “type of color chart”) is increased to two or more, the number of operation screens must be increased depending on the number of the types of color charts. Consequently, the operator has to select and operate an appropriate operation screen depending on the type of color chart, and such an operation is cumbersome and complicated. Further, change of the type of color chart during the adjustment process for a designated color is not assumed.
On the other hand, if the number of color patches is increased at the beginning of operation, it takes a long time to select a color, and consumption of ink and print mediums become larger costly.